Ninety percent of the world’s palm oil supply is used in everyday items such as snack foods and detergents; the remaining 10 percent is a source of biodiesel. Oil palm trees thrive in wet, tropical regions, and agribusinesses are responding to rising worldwide demand for palm oil by clearing rainforest land to establish new plantations.

“If consumers knew the extent to which their food and common household items were contributing to rainforest destruction, they would likely choose not to buy them,” said Leila Salazar-Lopez, director of RAN’s Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign. “We’re trying to educate consumers so they can make informed decisions at the supermarket.”

Palm expansion is now the leading driver of deforestation in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Deforestation in the region has become a globally significant contributor to climate change and will likely result in the extinction of several flagship species, including the critically endangered orangutan, within the next decade. Palm oil plantations have also been linked with displacement of Indigenous communities and unfair labor practices.

U.S. agribusiness giants Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge and Cargill are among the largest global traders of palm oil and are the leading importers of the commodity into the United States. An ADM affiliate, Wilmar International, is the world’s largest producer of palm oil. Cargill is the fourth-largest exporter of the commodity from Malaysia and holds 14,000 acres of plantations—all on newly cleared land—in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

RAN is asking consumers to note the UPC codes of products on their supermarket shelves that contain palm oil—and of any palm-free alternatives they identify. Consumers can then enter the UPC codes at TheProblemWithPalmOil.org, which also displays complete lists of the identified products that do and do not contain palm oil.

Submissions of products containing palm oil include Nabisco’s Chips Ahoy cookies, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dinners, several flavors of Power Bar, and several Atkins deserts.

The Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign, launched in 2007, is demanding that ADM, Bunge and Cargill stop destroying rainforest to produce commodity crops such as palm oil and soy.

###